Connect to file shares on the School of Earth Sciences File Server cluster
from MacOS X

Last revision April 18, 2014

The School of Earth Sciences File Server cluster provides access to
multiple individual and group network file shares organized into several
storage pools with different network names. The main network name
that applies to most shares is
sesfs.stanford.edu,
which will be used in these instructions. To connect to shares in
the cluster hosted on other network names, such as
sacfs.stanford.edu,
simply substitute that other name in these instructions in place of
sesfs.stanford.edu.

System requirements

These instructions only work for versions of Mac OS X that are supported
in the School of Earth Sciences: "Leopard" (10.5.5 through 10.5.8);
"Snow Leopard" (10.6.4 through 10.6.8); "Lion" (10.7.3 through 10.7.5);
"Mountain Lion" (any version of 10.8); and "Mavericks" (any version
of 10.9).
Use the
About This Mac
item from the "Apple" menu to find out your current version.
Use
Software Update...
from the "Apple" menu to get the latest updates for your version
of Mac OS X.

If you still are using an earlier version of Mac OS X, you are strongly
recommended to upgrade!
Alternatively, Macs running Mac OS X 10.3.9 or 10.4.11 that have
the Stanford Kerberos tool installed
may
be able to connect using these
alternative instructions for kerberos connections from old Macs.
Even older versions of the Mac OS cannot connect at all.
If you need help upgrading your Mac OS or cannot make a connection following
these instructions, put in a request on the
HelpSU web site.

Due to a security restriction in the campus network firewalls, you
can only connect to file shares on the School of Earth Sciences
File Server cluster
if your computer is connected to the Stanford campus network.
If you are off-campus, you can install and use the
Stanford VPN client
on your computer. That client authenticates you (using your
SUNet ID) so your off-campus network connection will
be treated by the firewall as if you were on campus.
Alternatively, you can use an
sftp client program
from anywhere on the Internet to connect to the alternate server
sestransfer.stanford.edu
to access your files.

Connect to shares on sesfs.stanford.edu or other cluster nodes

You need to know the
name of the share
you want to use and the network name of the node that is sharing it.
The network name
sesfs.stanford.edu
is used in these examples.
You can repeat this procedure to connect to multiple shares at once.

Connections are done from the
Finder.
Make sure the
Finder
is active (click on a
Finder
window, or its icon in the
Dock,
or an empty area of the desktop).
From the
Go
menu, select the
Connect to Server...
item, as shown in this screenshot:

This will open the
Connect to Server
window. You type the information needed to connect to the file server
in the
Server Address:
field. The syntax is:

cifs://sesfs.stanford.edu/sharename

where you substitute the
name of the file share
you desire for
sharename.
For example, in the screenshot below, I want to connect to the
home share named
farrell:

After typing the share address, click on the
Connect
button. You will see the
Connecting To Server
window for a few seconds, as shown in this screenshot:

At this point, the file server needs to determine who you are and whether
you have rights to access the share in question. The file server nodes
are part of the campus Windows Domain Active Directory authentication
system, which uses your SUNet ID and password to prove your identity.
If a workstation is also joined to the Windows Domain, and you use your
SUNet ID and password to login to that workstation, then the workstation
just passes that information along to the server. This is commonly
done with Windows workstations on campus, but is also possible with
Mac OS X workstations (version 10.6 or later). In particular, the
Macs in the School computer labs in Mitchell A59 and A65 are joined
to the Windows Domain, so they can automatically pass along your
identity information to the server. A few general use Macs in other
areas are also joined to the Windows Domain. For these machines,
there is nothing more you need to do - you will be automatically
connected to the server (assuming you have rights to access that share).

In the normal case of a Mac that uses local accounts, you will
now be prompted to enter a username and password for access to the
file server, as shown in this screenshot:

The
Registered User
button should be checked and is required; no guest logins are allowed to
any of the School of Earth Sciences File Server cluster nodes.
The Mac will "helpfully" pre-fill the username field with the name
of your local logged-in account on the Mac.
You must replace this with your SUNet ID username and password.
You must use your original login form of the SUNet ID. You cannot
use an email alias form.
And here is the most important thing:
you must prefix your SUNet ID with
WIN\,
as shown in this screenshot:

Why do you need the
WIN\
prefix in front of your SUNet ID username?
This tells the server to authenticate you by checking the information
you provide against the Windows Domain Active Directory.
Otherwise, it would just check your information against its list of
local accounts - of which there are
none
(except for system management accounts).

When the connection is finished, a separate
Finder
window generally opens to show its contents.
You treat this network disk volume as if it were directly attached to
your Mac.

By default, Mac OS X 10.5 and later does not show this network disk
volume on the desktop; rather, it
lists the server
sesfs
under the
Servers
or
Shared
item (depending upon OS version) in the left sidebar of all
Finder
windows.
We recommend that
you make Mac OS X 10.5 and later show the mounted share as a network disk
icon on the desktop.
Select the
Preferences
item from the
Finder
menu, as shown here:

When the
Finder Preferences
window opens, make sure the
General
tab is selected. Then you will see a list of items that
are shown on the desktop. This screenshot shows the default view:

Click on the checkbox next to
Connected servers
to force the
Finder
to show your connected file shares as network disk icons on the desktop.

When you are done working with the share, you can disconnect it
in several ways.

If you set your
Finder
preferences to show connected server volumes on the desktop,
you can drag the share's network disk icon on the desktop to the
Trash,
or right-click on the icon (or hold the
Control
key while clicking with a single button mouse)
and select
Eject
from the contextual menu that appears.

If your
Finder
preferences are still in the default mode, you will not have
a share icon on the desktop. In that case, click on the
sesfs
name under the
Servers
or
Shared
item in the left sidebar of any open
Finder
window. Highlight the share from
sesfs.stanford.edu
that you want to disconnect, and then click the
Disconnect
button above it.

You will also disconnect automatically
if you logout from your Mac or shut it down.